Truong X. Nghiem - the School of Engineering and Applied Science ...

Truong X. Nghiem
Electrical & Systems Engineering
University of Pennsylvania
200 South 33rd Street, Rm. 203 Moore
Philadelphia, PA 19104, U.S.A.
nghiem@seas.upenn.edu
+1 937 687 8664
http://www.seas.upenn.edu/ ∼ nghiem
Research Interests
– Control and scheduling of dynamical systems for peak demand management, with applications in smart &
energy-efficient buildings, electric vehicles, and electric appliances.
– Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS): real-time and embedded control systems, hybrid systems, control software
synthesis and verification.
Education
2012 Ph.D. Electrical & Systems Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA
– Thesis: Green Scheduling of Control Systems.
◦ Theory and algorithms for control and scheduling of dynamical systems for peak demand reduction.
◦ Applications in heating and cooling systems in buildings.
– Advisor: Professor George J. Pappas; Co-advisor: Professor Rahul Mangharam.
2003 B.S. Electrical Engineering (Focus: Automatic Control), Hanoi University of Technology, Hanoi, Vietnam
– Thesis: Develop an SFC software package for sequential control according to the IEC 61131-3 standard.
– Advisor: Professor Hoang Minh Son.
– Ranked first, with highest GPA, in the graduating class of 2003 (approx. 5000 students).
Research Experience
2011 – Present Energy Efficient Buildings Hub (EEB Hub) (formerly Greater Philadelphia Innovation Cluster (GPIC)
for Energy Efficient Buildings)
An Energy-Regional Innovation Cluster (E-RIC) of the U.S. Department of Energy.
Involved in the following research topics:
– Scheduling and control for peak demand reduction & demand response in energy-efficient buildings.
– Software for simulation, analysis, optimization & control of building energy systems.
– Low-cost wireless sensors and sensor placement for inverse modeling of buildings for Model Predictive Control.
Jun–Sept, 2008
Symbolic Execution of Simulink/Stateflow Models
Intern, NEC Laboratories America, Princeton, USA.
Supervisor: Dr. Sriram Sankaranarayanan.
– Developed symbolic verification method & tool for Simulink/Stateflow models.
– Filed a patent on the method.
2006 – 2009 Synthesis of Embedded Software from Hybrid Models (NSF)
Student member, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA.
Worked with Professor George J. Pappas & Professor Rajeev Alur.
– Developed theoretical methods for quantifying the performance of time-triggered digital implementation of
control systems.
– Developed simulation tool in Simulink for time-triggered implementation of control systems.
2007 – 2008 Pacemaker Formal Methods Challenge
Student member, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA.
Worked with Professor George J. Pappas, Professor Insup Lee & Dr. Oleg Sokolsky.
– Developed and verified a cardiac pacemaker model using timed automata with UPPAAL.
Truong X. Nghiem – Curriculum Vitae 1/5

Dec 2002
– May 2003
– Developed pacemaker simulation model in Simulink and Stateflow.
Sequential Function Chart (SFC) Software Package for Sequential Control according to the IEC 61131-3
Standard
Undergraduate final project, Hanoi University of Technology, Hanoi, Vietnam.
– Developed a visual programming software tool for SFC programming of automation systems.
– Developed a virtual machine for embedded control on industrial computers.
Oct 2012 –
Present
Work Experience
Post-doctoral Researcher, Electrical & Systems Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA
Member of the Real-Time & Embedded Systems Lab (mLab) and Penn Research in Embedded Computing and
Integrated Systems Engineering (PRECISE) center.
2005 – 2012 Research Assistant, Electrical & Systems Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA
Member of the General Robotics, Automation, Sensing and Perception (GRASP) Lab.
Jun–Sept, 2008
Summer Intern, NEC Laboratories America, Princeton, USA
System Analysis and Verification Group.
2003 – 2005 Lecturer, Hanoi University of Technology, Hanoi, Vietnam
Department of Automatic Control, Faculty of Electrical Engineering.
Research Software Development
2010 – Present MLE+
Matlab/Simulink toolbox for building energy simulation, analysis, optimization and control.
http://mlab.seas.upenn.edu/mlep/
Nov 2012
2008 Automatic extraction of linear hybrid models from Simulink/Stateflow models
Internal software tool of NEC Laboratories America for automatic instrumentation & extraction of linear hybrid
models from Simulink/Stateflow models.
2003 IEC 61131-3 Sequential Function Chart (SFC) Programming Software for Sequential Process Control
Visual programming tool & virtual machine for embedded sequential control on industrial computers.
Honors and Awards
Best Demo Award at the 4th ACM Workshop On Embedded Sensing Systems For Energy-Efficiency In
Buildings (BuildSys), Toronto, Canada
For the tool demo of MLE+.
2005 – 2012 Vietnam Education Foundation (VEF) Fellowship
Prestigious fellowship from the U.S. government for Ph.D. study at the University of Pennsylvania.
Nov 2003
Second Prize in the Second National “Youth with Automation” Contest
A Vietnam’s national contest for young Vietnamese researchers in control and automation. Organized and awarded
by The Vietnam Science and Technology Association on Automation and the Ministry of Education and Training.
2003 Dean’s List at Hanoi University of Technology
Awarded by the Rector of Hanoi University of Technology for outstanding academic performance.
Aug 2003
May 2003
Excellent Student Award
Awarded by the Hanoi People’s Committee for outstanding academic performance among all college students in
Hanoi City.
Second Prize in “Student Research Contest”
Awarded by Hanoi University of Technology for excellent student research work.
1998 – 2003 Excellent Student Scholarship for 5 Consecutive Years
Awarded by Hanoi University of Technology for academic excellence.
Truong X. Nghiem – Curriculum Vitae 2/5

Professional Service
Journal Reviewer
– IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology: 2012.
– IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control: 2013.
Conference Reviewer
– IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC): 2011–2013.
– American Control Conference (ACC): 2012–2013.
– IEEE Multi-conference on Systems and Control (MSC): 2012.
– IEEE Real-Time Systems Symposium (RTSS): 2008, 2010.
– International Conference on Embedded Software (EMSOFT): 2012.
– IFAC World Congress: 2011.
– ACM/IEEE International Conference on Cyber-Physical Systems (ICCPS): 2012–2013.
– IFAC Conference on Analysis and Design of Hybrid Systems (ADHS): 2012.
– Mediterranean Conference on Control and Automation (MED): 2012.
– International Conference on Computer Aided Verification (CAV): 2013.
– International Conf. on Tools and Algorithms for the Construction and Analysis of Systems (TACAS): 2012.
– IEEE International Conference on Automation Science and Engineering (CASE): 2011.
– International Symposium on Automated Technology for Verification and Analysis (ATVA): 2008.
– International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems Workshops (ICDCS): 2008.
– Design, Automation & Test in Europe (DATE): 2013.
– ACM Workshop On Embedded Systems For Energy-Efficiency In Buildings (BuildSys): 2012.
Research Funding Proposal Reviewer
– The 2013 Kentucky Science and Engineering Foundation (KSEF) R&D Excellence Award.
Professional Memberships
– IEEE Member since 2013.
– IEEE Graduate Student Member: 2007–2012.
– IEEE Control Systems Society Member since 2009.
– ASHRAE Student Member: 2010–2011.
Technical Skills
– Scientific software and programming languages: Matlab, Simulink, Stateflow, C, C++, Python, EnergyPlus,
UPPAAL.
– Editing: L A TEX, Emacs.
Languages
English (fluent), Vietnamese (native).
Publications
For the most updated list of publications, please visit http:// www.seas.upenn.edu/ ∼ nghiem/ publications.html
Control & Scheduling for Peak Demand Reduction
[1] T. X. Nghiem, G. J. Pappas, and R. Mangharam, “Event-based green scheduling of radiant systems in
buildings,” in Proc. of the American Control Conference (ACC), 6 2013.
[2] T. X. Nghiem, M. Behl, and R. Mangharam, “Green scheduling of control systems,” Submitted to IEEE
Transactions on Automatic Control, 2013.
Truong X. Nghiem – Curriculum Vitae 3/5

[3] M. Behl, T. X. Nghiem, and R. Mangharam, “Green scheduling for energy-efficient operation of multiple
chiller plants,” in Proc. of the IEEE Real-Time Systems Symposium (RTSS), pp. 195–204, 2012.
[4] T. X. Nghiem, M. Behl, G. J. Pappas, and R. Mangharam, “Green scheduling for radiant systems in
buildings,” in Proc. of the IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC), pp. 7577–7582, 2012.
[5] T. X. Nghiem, M. Behl, R. Mangharam, and G. J. Pappas, “Scalable scheduling of building control systems
for peak demand reduction,” in Proc. of the American Control Conference (ACC), pp. 3050–3055, 2012.
[6] Z. Li, P.-C. Huang, A. K. Mok, T. X. Nghiem, M. Behl, G. J. Pappas, and R. Mangharam, “On
the feasibility of linear discrete-time systems of the green scheduling problem,” in Proc. of the 32nd IEEE
Real-Time Systems Symposium (RTSS), pp. 295–304, 2011.
[7] T. X. Nghiem, M. Behl, R. Mangharam, and G. J. Pappas, “Green scheduling of control systems for peak
demand reduction,” in Proc. of the IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC), pp. 5131–5136, 2011.
[8] T. X. Nghiem, M. Behl, G. J. Pappas, and R. Mangharam, “Green scheduling: Scheduling of control systems
for peak power reduction,” in Proc. of International Green Computing Conference and Workshops (IGCC),
pp. 1–8, 2011.
[9] T. X. Nghiem and G. J. Pappas, “Receding-horizon supervisory control of green buildings,” in Proc. of the
American Control Conference, pp. 4416–4421, 2011.
Cyber-Physical Systems
[1] T. X. Nghiem, G. J. Pappas, R. Alur, and A. Girard, “Time-triggered implementations of dynamic controllers,”
ACM Transactions in Embedded Computing Systems, vol. 11, pp. 58:1–24, 8 2012.
[2] T. X. Nghiem and G. E. Fainekos, “Computing schedules for time-triggered control using genetic algorithms,”
in Proc. of the 18th IFAC World Congress, 8 2011.
[3] T. X. Nghiem, S. Sankaranarayanan, G. Fainekos, F. Ivancic, A. Gupta, and G. J. Pappas, “Monte-carlo
techniques for falsification of temporal properties of non-linear hybrid systems,” in Proc. of the 13th ACM
international conference on Hybrid systems: computation and control (HSCC), pp. 211–220, Springer, 2010.
[4] T. X. Nghiem, G. J. Pappas, R. Alur, and A. Girard, “Time-triggered implementations of dynamic controllers,”
in Proc. of the 6th ACM & IEEE International conference on Embedded software (EMSOFT),
pp. 2–11, ACM, 2006.
Other Topics
[1] W. Bernal, M. Behl, T. X. Nghiem, and R. Mangharam, “MLE+: a tool for integrated design and deployment
of energy efficient building controls,” in Proc. of the 4th ACM Workshop on Embedded Sensing Systems for
Energy-Efficiency in Buildings (BuildSys), pp. 123–130, ACM, 2012.
[2] T. X. Nghiem and S. M. Hoang, “Real-time and interactive simulation of industrial processes for education
and research,” in The 6th Vietnam Conference on Automation (VICA VI), 2005. In Vietnamese.
[3] S. M. Hoang and T. X. Nghiem, “PLCs and the IEC 61131-3 standard (part 2),” Automation Today
(Vietnamese), vol. 7, 7 2004. In Vietnamese.
[4] S. M. Hoang and T. X. Nghiem, “PLCs and the IEC 61131-3 standard (part 1),” Automation Today
(Vietnamese), vol. 5, 5 2004. In Vietnamese.
Theses
[1] T. X. Nghiem, Green Scheduling of Control Systems. PhD thesis, University of Pennsylvania, 2012.
Truong X. Nghiem – Curriculum Vitae 4/5

Patents
1. System and Method for Feedback-guided Test Generation for Cyber-physical Systems Using Monte-
Carlo (Applied)
– Inventors: Aarti Gupta, Franjo Ivancic, Sriram Sankaranarayanan, Truong Nghiem.
– Assignees: NEC Laboratories America, Inc.
– Patent application number: 20100094611.
– Filing date: October 14, 2009.
Truong X. Nghiem – Curriculum Vitae 5/5